Question

ginas community is considering whether it should ban the use of plastic bags. help her analyze the costs and benefits of using plastic and paper bags by completing the paragraph. based on the data presented, bags have less impact on earths resources. even though bags have less impact on organisms in the oceans, the production of bags uses more of earths materials and releases more carbon into the atmosphere.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze resource - use

Looking at the "use of materials in production" row, plastic bags have +++ while paper bags have +++++, indicating paper bags use more materials. So plastic bags have less impact on Earth's resources in terms of material - use.

Step2: Analyze ocean - organism impact

In the "litter in oceans" row, plastic bags have +++++ and paper bags have +, so paper bags have less impact on organisms in the oceans.

Step3: Analyze overall production impact

For carbon release, energy use, and water use in production, paper bags have more + signs than plastic bags, meaning paper bags' production uses more resources and releases more carbon.

Answer:

plastic; paper; paper